Five Web Series To Check Out Now

Drama is now happening one tasty tantalizing morsel at a time on the Internet. No longer do you have to wait for a commercial break to take to the washroom, with episodes ranging from a couple of minutes to 12 minutes, you can now watch your favorite web series and barely step out of the rhythm of everyday life.

That is the beauty of a web series… they are perfect entertainment fillers. Snacks, you can devour while waiting in line, sitting on a bus with only a mobile phone for entertainment, or simply looking to escape for a few short minutes every day.

FREE WEB SERIES WORTH CHECKING OUT

The beauty of a web TV is that they are by nature short. You only need to watch one or two shows in a web series in well under the time of a 30-minute sitcom on TV to get the idea of the series. Here are five free web series gracing the stage in cyberspace.

1. Sunday Dinner With…

In a new web series on the Yahoo! Screen web TV channel, the Sunday Dinner With… show goes into the homes of celebrities for a “Sunday Dinner.” The webisodes feature interviews with the celebrity revealing new information about the dinner host. For example, do you know why Larry King wears suspenders? During dinner we get a look at how the host interacts with family and friends and even a few cooking tips.

2. Blood And Bone China

Is no where safe from vampires? Certainly not the movie screens (Twilight) or the TV screen (True Blood), and now these dangerous fanged creatures are coming to suck your blood in 10-minute online web TV episodes. Ouch!

Set in the dark, decrepit time of 1897 in Stoke-On-Trent in the wintery cold of England, Blood And Bone China is a wonderfully shot sumptuous visual feast for vampire lovers. Originally scripted and shot as an entire feature film, this series found its market online when Creator/Director Chris Stone decided to break up his Gothic Victorian masterpiece into 12 bite-sized chunks.

3. Ruth & Erica

This free web TV show written and directed by Amy Lippman focuses on the relationship between mother and daughter Ruth (Lois Smith) and Erica (Maura Tiereny), respectively. The web series is a dramatic and often humorous look at Erica’s life and how she manages the relationship with her parents living in San Francisco while she resides in San Diego.

Ruth & Erica airs on the WIGS YouTube channel, which is dedicated to bringing high-end, original series and short film to the Internet. The YouTube channel, also features a series of free web TV shows featuring well-known actors and actresses. New webisodes are released on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6am PST.

4. Electric City

Probably the best animated series online, Electric City is a high-quality web series created by and starring none other than “Tom Hanks.” Electric City is an issue-focused dramatic web TV show, targeting issues such as energy consumption, freedom of information, and crime and punishment. Watch it.

This is an aesthetically beautiful masterpiece that also utilizes a number of cutting edge interactive online features. On Yahoo’s home base for the web series an audience member can also play games, watch behind the scenes clips, discover characters back stories, and join discussions. There are even mobile apps for Android and iOS that include digital comic books and exclusive content.

Episode One, titled “Truth or Consequences” begins with a telling voice over from Hanks….

“Paradise has many names, the Utopia, the place of security, the illusion of freedom. Humankind gets in the way of perfection; ghosts and the machinery of civilization. It’s best to ask no questions and be told no lies, here in the Electric City.”

5. Woke Up Dead

This is probably the funniest zombie comedy ever created. The premise is simple, it’s about a dude who goes to a rave, takes a party drug, and after spending minutes submerged in a bathtub full of water wakes up as a zombie. Kind of every day stuff huh?

The star of the show is the hilarious, laid-back and awkward star from Napoleon Dynamite, Jon Heder, and it is screened on the Sony Entertainment Pictures owned website “Crackle.” Woke Up Dead is the kind of comedy that polarizes people. It is fair to say that if you didn’t get Napoleon Dynamite, then you probably won’t love “Woke Up Dead.”

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WEB SERIES

There are a number of great new free web series including comedy series and those of a more dramatic nature debuting online every week. Affordable to make and free to air, the Internet is giving a voice to brave new filmmakers in a way that we have never seen before. See a web series you like, why not download them to the RealPlayer library and watch them wherever you go. If you don’t already have it, you can install a free version of RealPlayer to download free web series videos to your computer by clicking the orange button in the top right corner of this page.

It was a tough job choosing only five. What’s your favorite web series at the moment AND why? Do you prefer web TV to cable TV?

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2 Comments

By Mach Posted on January 15, 2013

Wow, the Blood and Bone in China clip is extremely cool! I need to see this movie the day it comes out! I really liked the scene with the female vampire slipping into a bathtub full of blood while drinking a glass of blood too. This one could keep me up at night.

lol @ “Warning: If you are prone to nightmares do not watch before bedtime.” Never watched any of these web series so good looking out on this one! Definitely going to have to check some of these out. My favorite from last year was Puppet Dreams with the infamous NPH. Gotta love the ol’ Neil Patrick Harris!